Snapped Wire
by dragonprincess1988
Summary: That wire wasn't supposed to snap. There was no reason for it to snap. He checked it twice to make sure that it was secure and in good condition.
1. Chapter 1

There's blood on the ground. He's not sure whose blood it is, but damn if there isn't a lot of it. He moves to take a step, and realizes that his leg hurts...a lot. He looks down, and suddenly he knows where all of the blood is coming from. Before he can even call out for help, he's down on the ground clutching his leg. If he can stop the bleeding, then...well, he knows that it's irrelevant, because he's going to pass out.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. That wire wasn't supposed to snap. There was no reason for it to snap. He checked it twice to make sure that it was secure and in good condition. He knows something went wrong...something horrible...something that he should have been able to prevent...something that...he can't think anymore...can't form whole sentences. His eyes are falling shut. He's cold...so cold. He isn't sure that he'll ever be warm again. Maybe if he sleeps-and sleep seems like such a good idea-except that he knows that it's not. Something is telling him that it's not. He needs to stay awake. He just doesn't know why anymore.

Nightwing runs, leaps, and swings as fast as he can. He's closing in on Robin's last known location, just not fast enough for Dick's liking. When he touches down, there's a pool of blood-and smears leading further into the alley. Dick has no idea what happened. All he knows is that they lost contact with Tim too long ago for this to end well. The panic sets in, and he realizes that he doesn't even know why Tim was in this part of the city. It's not Tim's normal patrol route, and the sinking feeling in Dick's stomach is getting worse. There are two long pieces of heavy duty wire laying on the ground, where most of the blood is originating from. Dick can tell that the two pieces used to be one. It looks like the wire was cut...not broken, but it doesn't look as though it was cut by any knife Dick knows of. The worry is starting to feel like a solid mass within Dick. He follows the blood trail, hoping that the reason he doesn't hear anything coming from that direction isn't want he thinks.

Dick stumbles when he sees Tim lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. The kid looks like he's been attacked by some animal. His clothes are torn to shreds, and there's so much blood. Dick can't even tell where all of it's coming from. He crouches beside Tim's prone body, and searches for a pulse, not sure if he's more relieved or amazed when he finds one. He carefully picks up his little brother's too-light form and carries him. He knows that he needs to get Tim to safety, but he's not sure how much jostling the kid can take right now.

He whispers apologies and reassurances as he cradles Tim's broken body close to him, and takes flight. Dick knows that the rooftop express is probably the worst thing for Tim right now, but he doesn't have a lot of options. Sure, Dick could call one of the many cars, but it's too risky if whomever or whatever did this to Tim is still around somewhere. He forces himself to move a few blocks away before stopping on a rooftop, calling a car, and dressing Tim's injuries. The field first-aid kit isn't good enough for this, and Dick curses himself for not remembering to restock it before leaving tonight.

Between cleaning the various wounds and berating himself for his stupidity, Dick tries not to think about how much of his little brother's blood is on his hands-or the fact that Tim hasn't made a sound. He finds himself constantly checking Tim's pulse just to reaffirm that he's still alive. Dick breathes a small sigh of relief when the car finally arrives, and then he just stares ruefully at the ground. He doesn't want to jostle Tim around anymore, and no matter how he leaps off the building he has no doubt that he's going to do just that.

Dick grits his teeth, and holds Tim tightly before making his way to the ground. It takes far too long for his liking, but now that Tim is lying in the back of the car, Dick feels at least mildly better. He doesn't realize that his hands are shaking until he goes to open the driver's side door, and it takes Dick a few moments to get himself under control. He has no illusions that his driving is, by any definition, safe. After all, speed limits always were for other people, but more-so now than ever.

When he arrives at the cave, Dick is still in the process of trying to calm himself. He carries Tim over to one of the med tables and then gets to work on trying to clean him up, while Alfred sets the IV bags up. There's so much blood, and it seems that the more he wipes away, the more there is. Dick starts stitching the still bleeding wounds on Tim's torso and leg, and then moves onto bandaging the rest with Alfred's help. Dick has no idea how much blood Tim has lost, but from the look of it, his little brother is lucky to still be alive. Alfred takes care of dealing with the blood transfusion, while Dick finishes dressing the rest of Tim's wounds. It's a long process, given how many injuries Tim sustained before Dick managed to get to his position.

Dick knows that he shouldn't blame himself for his little brother's current state. He's well aware that there was nothing that he could do-no way he could have gotten there faster-but he berates himself for it anyway. It always hurts worse to know that there's nothing he could have done-nothing he could have changed to make it better-especially since Dick still has no idea what happened to Tim. He's torn between staying here and watching over his little brother, and returning to the scene to figure out what the hell happened. Dick knows what Bruce would do. Hell, for Bruce it wouldn't have even been a debate. He'd already be at the scene, but Dick isn't Bruce. He never has been, and he never will be. So, this is one decision that he has to make on his own.

Dick leans down and brushes Tim's dark hair off of his forehead. "I'll be back, little brother. I promise." He squeezes Tim's hand once before leaving.

The End (for now)


	2. Chapter 2

Nightwing arrives at the scene, and tries not to focus on the fact that all of the blood on the alley walls is most likely Tim's. He has to focus, and there's absolutely no way that he's going to be able to do that if he keeps staring blankly at the blood splatters. The snapped wire is still lying on the ground where it had previously fallen. Dick carefully picks up both pieces and places them into evidence bags before tucking both bags back into his belt. He's hoping that he can figure out what sliced through the wire once he gets back to the cave, but he still has to take samples of all of the blood. Dick knows that Tim probably didn't get a hit in on his attacker-not if the lack of defensive wounds on his little brother is anything to go by. But, he still needs to confirm that Tim's attacker didn't leave any other physical evidence.

Dick moves to the back wall where he found Tim slumped over, and starts looking for anything that might give him some clues as to who or what is responsible for Tim's current state. It's a little hard to see with nothing but a penlight, but Dick has dug around worse places with less, and the light pollution of the city is helping, at least a little. He crouches down to take a closer look at the ground where Tim had been lying, when he hears the distinctive sound of metal scraping against stone behind him.

Dick spins around to see the manhole cover slowly moving. He slips both of his escrima sticks into his hands, and presses further into the shadowy corner of the alley. It's Gotham, so Dick isn't the least bit surprised when the manhole cover is pushed aside completely, despite how heavy those things are. However, he is a little startled when Killer Croc emerges from the sewer. After all, he didn't even know Croc was out, let alone in this part of the city. Croc isn't even halfway out of the manhole, when Dick attacks. He's on Killer Croc's back, hitting him over the head with his escrima sticks, when Dick is unexpectedly pulled off and thrown halfway down the alley.

"Another bird wants to mess with me tonight." Killer Croc clicks his teeth together twice, and then steps closer to Nightwing. "You can be dinner."

He strikes out with his claws as Dick black flips away from him. "Why did you attack Robin, Croc?" He wasn't expecting to fight Killer Croc tonight. Dick doesn't have everything that he would normally use to subdue him, but that doesn't mean that Nightwing doesn't still have some tricks up his sleeves.

"Kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like you." He lunges for Dick, jaws gnashing together, narrowly missing Dick. "I didn't get a chance to finish the little bird off, but you won't be so lucky."

Dick flips over Killer Croc, twists in midair, and throws one of his escrima sticks at Croc. It connects with his head, and when Croc turns to attack once again, Dick jumps on top of him. "Here, chew on this." Dick shoves a handful of smoke pellets into Killer Croc's mouth, and forces him to bite down on them, before jumping off of him and landing on the opposite side of the alley.

It's not enough to take him out, but it does enrage and disorient him. Croc charges Nightwing, and Dick slides out of the way, allowing Killer Croc to slam into the wall. "I'm going to enjoy eating you!"

Dick ducks another sweep of claws, spins around Croc, and then kicks him as hard as he can into another wall. He gets some distance between them, and then throws an explosive batarang. It detonates right before it hits Croc's face, and then Dick moves in. He's punching and kicking, hitting with everything he's got, while constantly moving. Dick knows that he has to tire Killer Croc out, otherwise he'll never win this. However, staying out of the way of Croc's sharp claws and dangerous teeth is becoming increasingly difficult in this cramped alley.

Nightwing can't risk letting this fight spill into the street, so when he has a choice of back flipping onto the sidewalk behind him or letting Croc slash his face. Dick twists as much as possible to minimize the damage, and then uses the wall to get over and around Killer Croc. Ignoring the blood dripping down his face, he leads him further into the alley, using the fire escapes to stay above him. It doesn't give Dick a lot of leverage, but it keeps Croc moving, especially when Dick dives low enough for Croc to try to grab him. He scrambles back up to the next fire escape before Killer Croc can do more than reach for him, but Dick is quickly running out of places to go, and the last thing that he needs right now is for Croc to get bored with him and move on...like he probably did with Tim.

When they reach the dead end of the alley, Dick drops down on top of Killer Croc, and shoves his other escrima stick into Croc's mouth vertically to hold it open. Dick knows that he has a limited amount of time before Croc snaps the escrima stick, but hopes that it's long enough to accomplish his goal. He pulls out a zip line, and avoids the clawed hands trying to grab him. When Killer Croc finally manages to apply enough pressure to snap his jaw closed, despite the escrima stick holding it open, Dick quickly wraps the zip line around his mouth, and then gasses him. Killer Croc immediately begins to stumble around, trying to fight the knockout gas. When he stumbles close enough, Dick jumps off of him, onto the nearby fire escape, and then leaps down, using his entire body to slam Croc into the ground.

Croc's out, but Dick has no way of knowing for how long. He quickly restrains Killer Croc's arms, even though nothing that Dick has on him will hold him for very long once he's awake. Nightwing makes the call to the proper authorities, and then waits for them to show up. He can't help but pace while he waits. Dick wants nothing more than to get back to check on his little brother, but he can't just leave Croc unattended, even if he is unconscious. When they finally get there, Dick doesn't wait around to talk to them. He has to get back and figure out how Croc escaped, and why no one knew about it; but all of that is secondary to checking on his little brother.

The End


End file.
